Don't Tell the Others
by hehadnochoice
Summary: Gemma loves being the fifth member of the Marauders, that is, until someone realizes that without the others she's helpless. Rated T for darker themes later on.
1. Chapter 1

"Lily! Lily over here!" I saw my best friend Lily Evans, I mean how could you not? I could _easily_ recognize her with her bright red hair, much like mine. Well, it did before I chopped it all during holiday this year.

Lily and I had become friends fast, I moved in next to her when we were both about 9. I wasn't very good at making friends, and it didn't help that my family and I had moved all the way from America. I was bitter that I had to leave my few friends so I wasn't exactly up to playing nice with the little girl next door, but when I met Lily I fell in love…platonically.

I ran to my best friend and accidently tripped over my own shoelace a few feet away from Lily. _Damn it Gemma why are you always so clumsy?_ I fell on top of her. While we were picking ourselves up I hugged my best friend.

"Hey Lils, sorry for the surprise attack." I apologized to her, yeah, definitely not the best way to greet someone you haven't seen all summer. She had been in France with her family.

She looked at me and tried to pretend to be angry with me. I knew she wasn't, I know how to read my best friend and I definitely saw a hint of a smile under her frown.

Suddenly she just started laughing." It's ok Gem, I blame it on your chronic clumsiness." She looked me up and down and her eyes got really wide. _Oh shit, what now? _I frantically followed her eyes, was there something on me?!

"Gemma, your so fricken tall!" Lily never cussed, she's too nice. Well, except when she's around James. Then she uses language that would make a sailor blush.

But she was right, I'd grown two or three inches, cut my hair into a long pixie cut and got BOOBS! Which is a big achievement for me because for God's sake, I was almost completely flat chested till the middle of fourth year (last year) where they steadily got bigger. I also got a figure, but it's not like it mattered because no boys can like me.

It's not because I'm not pretty, well at least I'm not ugly. But because I was best friends with the Marauders, literally the most popular group of boys at Hogwarts, and they never let anyone go near me. _Way too protective if you ask me. _They're all like big brothers to me, except Sirius. I had developed a little crush on him last year but I would never act on it. Too many risks.

"Thanks Lil, you look amazing as well." It was the truth, her hair had grown a little and now fell perfectly to about her waist. She'd never had to wear any makeup, she was naturally flawless. She wasn't very tall, at least compared to me, and she had curves in all the right places. I had to admit I was a little jealous. Especially of her bright green eyes.

We talked a little bit as the platform filled up, finding our friends and dorm mates and having them join the pre-Hogwarts-talking-thingy we had going on. I left my girly group of friends when I saw a familiar dark- haired family step out of the Floo network connected to the station.

"Hey James, Sirius, Mr. and Mrs. Potter." I hugged each one accordingly. Sirius had been living with the Potters all summer because his parents kicked him out. When James had owled me, informing me of the new events, I understood. The Black family were terrible people, connected to the rising Dark Lord, and abandoning their oldest son for being a blood traitor didn't seem like a big step away from evil.

After they had said their goodbyes, we met up with Remus and found a compartment on the train, the compartment we always have. It had all of our names scribbled on the walls, and behind the seats. All we had to do now was wait for Peter, it was normal for the boy to be late for everything.

I don't know why but I've always found Peter to be unsettling. He has beady little eyes that seem to hold too many secrets. I don't trust him. The boys patronous is a rat, and he resembles one too.

The train was scheduled to leave in five minutes and Peter still hadn't shown up. Yay.

Oops, spoke too soon. Just as the doors were closing he scurried in. Hehe. Scurried. Cause he's a rat. Get it?

I'll go sit in a corner.

**A/N: Okay so this is my second attempt at this fanfic, the first will soon be deleted. Please expect this to be updated every week or so, and if you have any suggestions please tell me. Hope you like it, adios. **


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Gem, how was your summer?"

This question unfortunately brought me out of the world of my book.

Remus asked me the question. He should know that you shouldn't interrupt my sacred reading time. It was practically a religion, and I mean Remus could relate. We were the bookworms of the Marauders after all.

He seemed to realize I was growing irritable. "You know what? Never mind, you don't have to answer that."

"No it's fine." And it was. I could never stay mad at Remus. Anyways, he didn't purposefully provoke me. I put down my book. "I didn't really do anything all summer, I went to the beach a few times with my muggle friends, and worked on my artwork. And I had Sev tutor me in Potions." He didn't look too happy when I mentioned Severus, but he didn't comment. I knew he didn't approve of the friendship, but he knew how much I needed the help in Potions. I had grown up with Severus and Lily. We all lived on the same street.

Severus and I were both half-bloods, and we kept the secret of the magical world until Lily had her first bout of accidental magic. It was kind of exciting, all three of us going to Hogwarts together. Then Severus got put in Slytherin. I mean, I had known him for so long so I didn't mind much, but I got involved with the Marauders. Became a part of them. They hated everyone in Slytherin, especially with Sirius's family and past. Sev and I were still really good friends, especially during the summer.

Remus told me how his family went to distant cousins or something. He didn't really enjoy spending time with them so he read a ton, and he wanted to recommend some books to me.

I didn't have a notebook in my bag so I grabbed my sketchbook and started flipping through the pages for a blank piece of paper he could write on, but before I could Sirius stopped my hand and grabbed my sketchbook from me.

"Sirius! Give that back right this instant. It's not yours it's-"

"Did you draw this?" He asked me. He was looking at a scenery I drew during one of our free periods. James and Sirius had been by the Black Lake, poking and prodding the Great Squids tentacles while Peter had been wading his feet in the water, watching and laughing. Remus was, of course, leaning against a nearby tree and reading.

"Well yeah, you git. It's in MY sketchbook, is it not?" I muttered sarcastically as James and Peter woke up and were now peering over Sirius's shoulders.

"Why don't we just show the whole train my crappy artwork then!" I yelled as I attempted to grab the sketchbook out of his hands, which was pretty much useless considering how tall he was.

"Crappy? Gem this practically looks like a photograph!" Remus exclaimed as he grabbed it out of Sirius's hands. "How do you do that?"

"Practice." I mumbled as I finally snatched my sketchbook away from the boys and promptly shoved it back in my bag.

After that the conversation changed to how James had went to a muggle movie theater with his family over the summer and was amazed that they could do such things without magic.

Closer to the end of the ride I made the boys get up and go to the washrooms to change into their school robes. They always complained that since there were more male specimens in the compartment, SHE should be the one walking down the entire train to change.

But I refused to enter the nasty train bathrooms because of the small size, and disgusting chemical smell that messed with her nose.

When the boys all got back she may or may not have forced them to play a game of Exploding Snap, and Sirius may or may not be missing some eyebrows.


End file.
